Throughout my time in politics, I have been supportive of political parties working together on issues that should rise above the usual partisan bickering that happens in every legislature. When political parties do work across partisan lines, it is usually through the respective House Leaders of each party and more often than not it is done quietly and without much fanfare.
Sometimes however, there are issues that are big or pressing enough were a more formal structure is needed. This often takes the form of an all-party committee or task force. In Manitoba, there is a history of these all-party committees having some positive results. There have been all-party efforts related to constitutional issues, regarding community safety and regarding proposed legislation, such as banning smoking in indoor public places. What has been common in these past efforts is that a committee is formed that has representation from all political parties, there is usually some public consultation and then a report or recommendation is made from the committee in a unanimous or consensus way. This ensure that there is buy in from all sides.
It was imagined that this was the intention when Premier Wab Kinew announced that there would be an all-party committee formed to make recommendations on public funding going to local news organizations in Manitoba. To be sure, this is an important issue. Local news plays a critical role in our province and communities. Whether, or how, support is provided is something that is of interest to the public and worth examining.
Perhaps the fact that the NDP Premier did not actually consult with other political parties before making the announcement should have been an early warning sign about where this was headed, but Manitoba’s official opposition, the PC Party of Manitoba, agreed to participate by having two of its members on the committee.
Public presentations were slow to get going and, ironically, a lack of local advertising caused poor turnout at early consultations, but eventually public input was garnered. At this point, the usual process would have been for committee members to get together, examine what they heard, and come up with consensus recommendations. A report would be drafted, all committee members would agree to it, and it would be released.
Unfortunately, in this situation, that is not what happened. Instead, the government members of the all-party committee drafted and released a report with recommendations without it being approved by opposition members of the committee. This resulted in the official opposition demanding that their names be removed from the report.
Somewhere along the line, the NDP forgot that the purpose of an all-party committee or task force is to come to a unified consensus on recommendations. That actually requires there to be communication and agreement from all members of the committee. This is what has been the expectation on past similar efforts. If the government simply wanted to come up with their own report without the cooperation of other parties, they can do that at any time. While it lacks some of the benefits of an all-party effort, it is within the power of the government to do this on its own without consultation.
However, forming an all-party committee to look at an important issue and then simply ignoring opposition members on that committee not only does a disservice to the all-party process, it diminishes the important issue that was being studied in the first place. The NDP got it half right when they formed an all-party committee. Working together is very important, especially in an increasingly divided world. However, forming an all-party committee simply to ignore other parties, only gets it half right.
